1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an improved disc device that records and/or reproduces information onto various optical discs.
2. Background Art
Generally, since information devices, e.g. personal computers or DVD recorders, record information onto optical discs or reproduce the information from the optical discs, disc devices are essential for the information devices. The disc devices are provided within the information devices or connected to the information devices using cables as external devices.
Among these optical discs, CD (Compact Disc), CD-ROM (Read Only Memory), DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), DVD-ROM (Read Only Memory) are exclusive to reproduce, and CD-R (Recordable), CD-RW (ReWritable), DVD-R, DVD-RW, and so on are writable (recordable).
FIG. 13 shows a desktop personal computer 101 with a built-in disc device 100 which drives an optical disc D. A conveying unit which loads/unloads a disc tray 103 is provided within a case 102, and a driving unit, such as a pickup base, which drives at the time of loading the disc tray 103 are further provided therein (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).
Since the disc device built in the personal computer has an optical pickup which is capable of corresponding to various optical discs as described above, it is possible to record and reproduce information onto/from the optical disc using only one disc device. Therefore, information devices other than the personal computer with the built-in disc device, for example, DVD recorders have a single disc device that records and reproduces information.
In the information device with a single built-in disc device as mentioned above, when recording information written in an optical disc into another optical disc, the optical disc with information recorded therein is driven by a disc device, and then the information is temporarily stored in a hard disc provided in the information device main body. Thereafter, a recording optical disc is mounted in the disc device, and the recorded information is read from the hard disc to be written in the recording optical disc. As apparently known from the above, in order to simultaneously record and reproduce information onto/from an optical disc, a recording disc device and a reproducing disc device are provided to be simultaneously driven without exchanging optical discs, to simultaneously record and reproduce information onto/from the optical discs.
Specifically, in the case of a desktop personal computer, the width of the half-height drive bay is standardized to 41.3 mm to maintain compatibility with the disc device. However, when two disc devices are provided in order to satisfy the above object, the number of the half-height drive bays increases, and the volume required to arrange the disc device is doubled, which results contradicts the object to provide a slim and thin device.
The present invention was made in consideration of these problems according to the related art, and an object of the invention is that without increasing the volume of the information device main body, it is possible to arrange two disc devices superimposed in a horizontal direction or a vertical direction in a standardized half-height drive bay, thereby enabling simultaneous drive of a plurality of optical discs.